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Abdullah Hekmat
Abdullah Hekmat is a citizen of Afghanistan, best known for the time he spent in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006 His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 670. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1972, in Akhcha, Afghanistan. Abdullah Hekmat was repatriated to Afghanistan on November 2, 2007. Background Abdullah Hekmat is an Afghan businessman who was denounced to American forces, and spent many years in Guantanamo. He acknowledged that he had been involuntarily conscripted into the Taliban's civil service in the mid-1980s. Combatant Status Review Tribunal Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunal to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. Summary of Evidence memo A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Hekmat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 22 November 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him: Transcript | author=Mark Denbeaux et. all. | date=February 8, 2006 | accessdate=2008-02-01 }}: "You can receive millions of dollars for helping the Anti-Taliban Force catch Al-Qaida and Taliban murderers. This enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life. Pay for livestock and doctors and school books and housing for all your people."]] Hekmat chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. | title=Summarized Sworn Detainee Statement | date=date redacted | pages=pages 59–70 | author=OARDEC | publisher=United States Department of Defense | accessdate=2008-02-06 }} On March 3, 2006 the Department of Defense complied with a court order and released summarized transcripts from the unclassified sessions of the captives' Tribunals. Abdullah Hekmat's transcript was twelve pages long. Testimony Summary of Evidence memo A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Hekmat's Administrative Review Board, on 30 June 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention. Transcript Hekmat chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. | title=Summary of Administrative Review Board Proceedings of ISN 670 | date=date redacted | author=OARDEC | pages=pages 61–70 | publisher=United States Department of Defense | accessdate=2008-02-06 }} In the Spring of 2006 the Department of Defense complied with a court order and released a ten page summarized transcript of his hearing. ''Factors for and against continued detention The following primary factors favor release or transfer Board recommendations In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official. The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his transfer on October 5, 2005. Repatriation On November 25, 2008 the Department of Defense published a list of when Guantanamo captives were repatriated. According to that list he was repatriated on November 2, 2007. Seven other Afghans were repatriated that day, two Jordanian captives and one Libyan captive. The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison near Kabul. mirror References External links * The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (11) – The Last of the Afghans (Part One) and Six “Ghost Prisoners” Andy Worthington Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Category:Block D, Pul-e-Charkhi prison Category:Year of birth uncertain